Monday, January 12, 2009

you all know that smell. the smell of homemade bread. it's a comfort to us all. makes our guards drop and our mouths water as we await the first bite.

i've been a loyal fan to the publication Mother Earth News. I've been buying it on the road, even though it will be sometime before i build my passive solar home with my organic garden out on my acreage of wilderness i will one day own.but that doesn't stop me. the latest issue as an article about easy homemade bread. now if i can accomplish this in an RV, surely you'll all have no problem.

in a big bowl, mix water and yeast. add remaining ingrediants. stir with wooden spoon until moist (not long). let rise 2 hours. but in fridge.now this will last for up to 2 weeks. the longer it sits, the more sourdough-y.

when you want some fresh bread, sprinkle the top of your dough w/ flour, grab out a handful (grapefruit size)and place on cookie sheet. preheat oven to 450. let sit for 30 min and then bake. put a small bowl of water on bottem of oven. that's it! with this recipe you should get 4 balls of bread. like i said, you can use it 4 days in a row or use it over a 2 week time. when it's all gone, don't wash the bowl, just make the dough over again. this will speed up the sourdough flavor.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

HELLO friends and family! It's been awhile since we've updated. Thought I'd sneak into the local library and give you all a quick update. Sorry, no pictures this time, but believe me, we've got lots to share.We escaped winter once again. We loved Durango but in the dead of winter in a motor home, it wasn't a long stay. The sky opened up and the sun showed her face...it was time to make a run for it. We drove over to Petrified Forest National Park in northern Arizona. What an amazing place. Logs, and I mean BIG logs of petrified wood laid scattered about. Kaleb was in absolute heaven, drooling with all the rocks surrounding him. The warning of picking up rocks and possible time spent in jail hung over him like a black cloud. Hard to forget when you see cameras all over the place. (A weird sight in a National Park.) Winter was still a threat so we quickly made our way over to Quartsite, Az. We've been here about 3 weeks now. It's been nice to "stay put". The kids got their groove on with schoolwork and have been busy building forts out in the desert and knitting hats galore. My brother drove down to spend the holiday with us and Nan-Nan and Uncle Justin and his family drove over for a day visit Jan 1st. We will be here another week before we make the trek back to Phoenix to spend some time with some friends of ours from Bend, OR that are flying in to see us. We can't wait to kick it by a campfire with them for a few nights. Then over to Cali and Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea. After that we will visit Aunty Leah and park it a bit in Uncle Justin's driveway near Riverside, CA. Then it looks like a roadtrip back north with possible settlement in the Portland, OR area. We've had fun exploring the SW but realize we are true NorthWesters.In Feb. will be camping for a weekend near L.A with other "Families on the Road". I have a link to the website over to the left. We joined this website when we first left Bend and have become friends with a few other families, following and learning from them on their journey. This will be a great get together and we are looking forward to finally meeting and playing with them.I must get going now, the librarian is shooting me funny faces, guess my time is up.We hope you all had a enjoyable holiday and a safe and happy New Year. Hopefully we'll be crossing paths with many of you soon!Love to all!!!